


Academy years

by Rangerfan58



Series: Starfleet Jedi [8]
Category: Star Trek, Star Wars - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2019-10-12 00:29:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 14,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17457179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangerfan58/pseuds/Rangerfan58
Summary: This is going to be a series of one shots during the training years of Ashland. they may not necessarily be in the right order and depending on how things go they may or may not be interconnected thus this story will always have chapter titles as a precaution. this story is also only going to be on AO3 for the moment until i decide it's completed so as to avoid the need to delete the story from fanfiction.net where i cross post if i don't update the story in their time limit





	1. Training observation

“So how are they doing?”

“Well as it is I can see several openings that I can take advantage of, be glad I'm not able to access the Force right now because otherwise it would be a slaughter for them it would be that obvious, also be glad I am not partaking in this particular exercise”

“Why can't you use the Force right now?”

“Inhibitor”

“And just _why_ are you using an inhibitor?”

“Over sensitivity unfortunately, normally I can block it out but right now things are too much, I can sense something involving Vulcan that's currently being taken care of, there are two different problems happening on Betazed and something is going to happen soon to Barson II but I can't tell what exactly just that it's going to happen within six months...six months my time not yours”

“And in our time?”

“Seven months, we have ten months while you have twelve which is slightly hard to adapt to by the way”

“We'll keep an eye on things then, but why if you have less months then us is it longer for us then you?”

“Because I keep trying to use my calendar and not yours and for me it's already been a month in the new year while it's still a month to go for you guys”

“Will you ever adapt to our timing?”

“Oh I'm getting there it's just a little more difficult at the moment with everything I have to adapt to right now”

“How much have you adapted in regards to our timing?”

“Well I no longer consider five days one week and one month is only six weeks instead of seven now except when I look at my calendar than it's back to seven weeks”

“Then you're still off”

“Nope because I mentally recalculated things for you guys which I have gotten much faster at doing since I arrived because I consider how long my month usually is subtract it from what I now consider a month and then subtract it more to what you consider a month then recalculate everything a second time to make sure they match and can accurately tell you anything you need”

“That sounds complicated”

“Oh it is, it just happens to be almost instantaneous now for me instead of taking almost two minutes”

“Good point, now then why didn't you inform anyone of the inhibitor sooner?”

“Because I took it just before the exercise started and no one was paying attention to me because the over sensitivity just hit me”

“Very well, like I said we'll keep an eye on things, just how often are you oversensitive on things?”

“Way too often but I manage somehow”

“Understood”

And with that Ashland continued her observations as requested for reasons that she was currently unaware of

 


	2. Message for home

Cadet Portland had been called for an unscheduled meeting with the people in charge of the Academy

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes Cadet Portland, you've been telling us about your home and at the same time you've been learning about the Federation and what we in Starfleet do, however we have instructed the teachers to let us tell you about a tradition that Cadets are told of when they first come onto Academy grounds, and they are reminded of this on their first away mission, but since you entered in the middle of the first semester you haven't been told about this tradition and we didn't want to surprise you with it considering your situation"

"What's the tradition sir?"

"Generally Starfleet officers have a contact list where certain people are informed in the case that an officer dies in the line of duty so that they can be at the reading of a will that might have been left behind, however your situation..."

"I see, I need to record a message and leave it with you until I reconnect with my home"

"Yes, and you will need to update it on a regular basis as well as you get to know people here"

"Then that means that there will be two messages that I must record on a regular basis"

"I guess it does, but wait until after graduation to start recording for those you meet in the Federation and become friends with"

"Permission to return to my quarters to start the recording?"

"Denied, you won't have the privacy you need there right now since we know your roommates schedule, we have another place that you can record"

"I need to get something out of my quarters for the recording"

"Okay, we'll have someone go with you so that you have an escort to the place we're letting you use for the recording"

Ten minutes later and she was in a place very few cadets knew about, primarily because it was where cadets formally received bad news about family members and started the recording once she knew she was alone

"This is Jedi Knight Ashland Portland, first of all if you are receiving this message from a group of people identifying themselves as part of something called the United Federation of Planets, or as something called Starfleet that means I succeeded in my mission, the second thing you should know is that if you  _are_ receiving this message that means that I died before I could return home. At this point in time I don't know how I died, I'm not even finished at this place I am at known as Starfleet Academy where I am learning to become a Starfleet officer in just four years unlike at the Temple which takes longer to even become an apprentice, then again everyone here is an adult when they join and have been learning about Starfleet and the Federation's history since they were in their schools as far as I'm aware of so they have the advantage on me right now. I hope that I die in the line of duty following the will of the Force, but even if it's not following the will of the Force it will be in the line of duty since I  _am_ going to be an officer and an officer obeys orders. Well, I guess that's everything right now, this message will be updated as time passes, Jedi Knight Ashland Portland signing off"  
Once she finished her recording she went back to the meeting location and hands them the device

"This is for the Jedi Council on Coruscant if you ever manage to get to my home and I'm not here"

"We understand Cadet, hopefully this message will never be used, or if it is it will be long after you are reunited with your people"

"That will just have to be up to the will of the Force, or as you guys have said it's a wait and see situation"

"We understand, in the meantime we'll make sure that this message is secured in a secret location that only we are aware of to prevent the risk of theft"

"Thank you"

And so that's what's done in regards to the message, it was taken to a special vault that would only be opened by specific people whenever Ashland was to update it


	3. The innoculation lesson

Ashland was in the simulator doing a strictly Jedi only training session in her second year at the Academy which meant only those she had started calling the Admiralty in her mind was there to observe her actions

"Kefler I need you to take two men and scout ahead, Doctor I need you to set up a triage area just in case"

Suddenly she notices a device and uses the Force to get it out of the way, and as soon as she does that the simulation fades and a voice is heard over the speaker at the same time

"End simulation"

(Sighs) "why do I get the feeling that I just got some if not all of the away team killed?"

"Because you did Portland, we deliberately designed this program to show you that even if you have this Force you can't use it all the time because once you reveal yourself at either our permission or at need for whatever reason there will be enemies trying to counteract your abilities and that might include making weapons that explode when exposed to the Force, though how the enemy would figure that part out is still beyond us, but it could happen"

"Why not make me unable to save people earlier with that cave in that was caused by the enemy?"

"Way too soon for that unfortunately for us"

"Okay what else was I doing wrong?, because it can't just be about learning when to use the Force and when not to"

"You're right on that one, it's also to teach you that splitting up right after an attack is a  _bad_ idea until you have a greater handle on how strong the enemy is and have a means of protecting the medical personnel and those that they treat in the triage section"

"Again then?"

"Not right now, I think that part of the problem is that you've been doing these simulations for almost 36 hours straight on your own insistence, though at least we've managed to force food into you on occasion which I consider a victory considering just how stubborn you are"

"Sorry, for some reason I didn't even realize what was going on"

"Medical first then"

It would turn out that a recent inoculation was the cause of Portland's ability to ignore time and hunger for so long

"It turns out that the simulations might have saved her life because she has too much adrenaline in her system still to easily go to sleep, but if she had tried it the day of the inoculation..."

"The adrenaline would have killed her for some reason"

"Yes, and I know why, that much adrenaline for too long would break down a normal person, however from what we understand the whatever they're called that allows her to use this mysterious Force helps compensate slightly for any and all emotions she's feeling, the inoculation made things severely out of balance for her and has been keeping her from releasing this energy into her mysterious Force, the moment she closes her eyes she tries to release emotions into the Force or if it's late at night tries to sleep, without this release she can still sleep, but not as easily, and the brain is very powerful, she might have died in her dreams and thus died in real life possibly it's that bad"

"Is she aware of what nearly happened?"

"Yes she is, and she wants us to start figuring out countermeasures should such a thing happen again for any reason during her career in Starfleet"

"Alright, some of you get started on the countermeasures she asked for and make sure that's the sole issue that's being worked on excluding any emergencies, in the meantime get her to sleep for a few hours if you can because she can't keep going like this much longer and we both know it"

"She knows it too and is asking the same thing, she's actually scared of how long she's been up without any break except when you've forced her to eat a meal or two"

"I'll leave you to it and let the others know that we're done for at least the rest of the day, we'll be talking to her teachers as well to make an excuse of some sort for her"

Fortunately medical personnel are indeed able to finally,  _safely_ induce sleep in Portland and she stays asleep for almost 24 solid hours, and then continues intermittent sleep for another 52 hours between the drugs she was receiving to counteract her initial reaction and the lost sleep she had missed staying up for almost three straight days. Once she was actually coherent she noticed where she was and then remembered the brief conversation before she was asleep and immediately sighed and flopped back on the bed she had been trying to get up from, fortunately there were medical personnel there just in case

"So...you coherent?"

"Yes, and we have a  _lot_ of work to do for me and any potential future Jedi that join Starfleet"

"Agreed, for now though you're on leave for at least another two days, we want to make sure that you actually stay awake the normal period of time"

"Makes sense"

The admiralty visited her and mentioned that their normal meetings would no longer be needed, but that she was to meet with Starfleet Medical until further notice so that the incident she had just gone through would never happen again if they could help it

"This might be a wait and see situation because there may be inoculations that I will need out in space that I won't get here"

"That's true, but at the very least I hope that we can make inoculations that won't keep you up for dangerous amounts of time"

"And...we might want to start thinking about special sedatives if I can't get enough sleep because of Force visions"

"We'll get on it after we deal with the current issue"

"Works for me, we still have at least two years together before I graduate"

Two days later and Ashland was discharged and allowed back on limited duty, which meant her class load was eased up and she wasn't allowed to participate in two different training scenarios with her group for two weeks but eventually things got back to normal for her situation at the very least


	4. Deep Space 9 training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't read any of the books that were published so I don't know if what I've written is true or not, but this is after the Dominion war and Sisko and Odo are both back at DS9

Ashland was currently chasing an intruder with a phaser rifle and she was not very happy. Ten minutes earlier she had been meeting with Odo in regards to possibly doing some work with him in security during her stay on the station when they were suddenly attacked, Odo had shielded her by pushing her out of the way of the weapon expecting to simply have said weapon pass through him but that hadn't happened, instead it struck Odo and barely missed where his heart would have been had he been human, Ashland had actually been shocked still for a moment because she had learned on day one that he couldn't be harmed very easily but she quickly fell back on her Jedi and limited Starfleet training slapping her comm badge

“Portland to Bashir!”

“Bashir here go ahead”

“Medical emergency on the Promenade, in front of security”

“I'm on my way”

Bashir arrived two minutes later and was just as shocked as she had been that the patient was Odo, but his training also kicked in and he got the ball rolling on his treatment, but he first had one important thing to do first

“What happened Cadet?”

“No idea, one minute I was talking to him, the next he was pushing me out of the way of the weapon which somehow managed to hurt him”

“Understood”

“Do you need me Doctor?”

“No, why?”

“Because I'm going hunting”

She went into the security office briefly and came out with the phaser rifle she was currently holding chasing the criminal along with other security officers who had managed to get a description of the offender out of her (though only barely through reminding her that capturing the offender was their job and they couldn't do their job without a description)

“Kira to Portland”

“Portland here go ahead”

“I've got the intruder, he's being taken back to security as we speak”

“Darn, I was hoping to stun him myself”

“I'm sure you were, at least he's caught and will be kept secure until transport for trial”

“Agreed, if you need me I'll be at sickbay”

“I'll meet you there”

The two meet at sickbay only to learn that Odo was still in surgery

“I'm still needed at Ops so I'd best be going, you on the other hand can stay here, I'll talk to Captain Sisko so that he doesn't expect you any where's else until you've received word”

“I'll let you know the prognosis if Bashir doesn't”

“Oh he'll let us know probably before he tells you”

Three hours later and Bashir finally goes out to meet Ashland

“How is he?”

“One moment, Bashir to Ops”

“Ops here go ahead”

“Odo will be fine, he made it through surgery safely and is currently asleep, I'll be putting him on restricted duty for a few days once he's up and about and once I know for a fact that he's recovered he'll be allowed full duty”

“He's not going to like that doctor”

“I don't care, he was poisoned with that knife which is what allowed him to be seriously harmed in the first place, he's lucky Portland was there or he might have died”

“Understood, but you're the one who's going to have to explain things to him”

“Oh don't worry I have every intention on doing so”

Ashland tries to leave but is immediately stopped by Bashir

“ _Hold it_ right there Cadet, you're not going any where's until I clear you”

“Doctor I'm fine, like I said when you first reported to the scene that Odo pushed me out of harms way”  
  
“That may be so, but you could have still been injured and not known it during the chase that followed, besides that I want a mental health check on you before you leave for duty”

Ashland knows immediately that she was basically being given an order and she had learned early on that _no one_ could disobey doctors orders if they were concerned about their health and had sufficient reason to check on the person and so she's scanned and during said scan Bashir speaks up

“Cadet, I am getting some strange readings, I think you need deeper evaluation to make sure that you're not coming down with something rare”

“Could I see the scans? I might be able to help you in that regards”

She sees the scans and then sighs before smiling

“It's okay, check with Starfleet Medical if you have to but that's actually almost completely normal for me”

“What seems to be off?”

“The adrenaline is still a bit higher than normal considering the time I've had to calm down and is that...the emotional center?”

“Yes it is”

“It's a bit off too, but I think something that I do on a regular basis will help with the emotional center, by the way did you give me any inoculations?”

“Yes I did”

“If I don't have those levels down by the time my day is done you'll need to work on special medicine that Starfleet Medical has come up with for me, let them know about the high adrenaline levels...when did you give me the inoculation by the way?”

“Right before you went to see Odo”

“Got it”

Fortunately Ashland's adrenaline levels went back down to normal as did her emotional center after meditation. During his stay in sickbay Odo was visited regularly by Kira and Ashland, Kira giving him the daily reports and Ashland giving verbal accounts on what she was being taught as a security officer by his second in command

“They're doing good teaching you Cadet in the short amount of time you have here”

“I still have two months before I head back to the Academy...and I think you should know that the Academy wants you to come back with me”

“Absolutely not, after what happened last time...”

“They want you to teach a few lessons to those who are focusing on security, according to them we may be at peace with the Dominion but there are other dangers that we should know how to fight and you being a shapeshifter helps in that you can assume any form to teach them to recognize potential enemies, even if it's not perfect”

“I prefer animals but...if I agree I will...try and imitate the enemy as best as possible”

Soon enough it was time for Ashland to return to the Academy and Odo had indeed decided to go with her to help teach security officers how to recognize any potential enemy they may come across (with minor differences that were noted) they also learned the hard way just _why_ the Dominion had been considered just a threat because the Cadets were deliberately tested on Dominion war time procedures and almost half of them failed three different times to properly utilize said procedures

“If this had been for real, and I was the enemy either a high ranking official, or maybe even a low ranking, but important officer could have been impersonated and killed at the same time”

“How can someone be low ranking but important?”

“Let's see...what would happen if I was to impersonate an Engineer of a vessel and knew the vulnerabilities already of said vessel?”

“Oh...that's how”

“Yes that's how, a former president got a _very_ clear demonstration of how dangerous my people are and now it's your turn to learn”

“He's not kidding, I read those reports and it was scary how easily he got in, and while we technically have a sort of peace treaty with the Dominion his people are not the only ones who have the potential to fool us, though it would take cosmetic surgery and other things that take time and are potentially detectable the items could be smuggled in and they could contain explosives or gases that could incapacitate a _large_ number of people”

“There's also the fact that some enemies might be immune to pain as well like Odo is...usually anyways”

“Cadet Portland...what are you doing with this class?”

“Hey, don't blame me for this one professor, one of the Admirals wanted me in this specific class because apparently they want me to be completely caught up on any enemies we may have that I haven't been exposed to yet, you know full well what my schedule is shaping up to be on a regular basis considering that you're in charge of my classes to a degree”

(Sighs) “I hate it when they're right”

“Same here, in any case I have other classes I need to get to, you can give me the after class discussion report and I'll be fine”

“Actually Cadet Portland you'll be debriefed by me”

“Got it sir”

Later Odo explained everything to Ashland and then left to head back to DS9 where he belonged with Ashland actually part of the ship taking him there though this time that wasn't deliberate instead what had happened was that a group of Cadets had been chosen to bring delegates back to Earth and the delegates were currently at DS9

“Really Cadet?”

“Hey, the President was the one who picked me for this assignment not one of the professors”

“So...want to spar sometimes”

“Why Odo, you never sparred before with me?”

“That was before an Admiral gave me access to certain...classified information regarding you”

“I thought I told them...”

“Before you get mad at them they had a very good reason”

“Oh and what would that be?”

“The incident the day after you attended that one class”

Ashland actually winces at that memory

“Okay they win, you do know though...”

“I know, until you get home or other circumstances forces you to reveal yourself I can't say a word about what I now know about you”

“Exactly, come on I think this might be why I was given the chip right before I teleported onto the ship”

And so Ashland was able to go full out on Odo and Odo realized that she had needed that release, but eventually they had to say goodbye to one another since they were at DS9. The trip back was in the minds of most of the Cadets pretty boring but it did give them not only an insight into more of ship life but also how to delicately deal with different cultures

 


	5. Combat training

Ashland was confused in regards to the message she had recently received, she had been told that she was to meet the Admirals in one of the gyms she had yet to see, in her Jedi clothing instead of her Academy uniform, though she was also told to bring her uniform with her in a bag and when she got there she saw one of them in an outfit similar to her Jedi clothes

“Sirs you wanted to see me here?”

“Yes, we know already that you use the Force in almost everything you do, and that you are getting used to our phasers relatively easy, but if something were to happen where you couldn't access your mysterious Force and don't have a phaser or lightsaber I believe it's called _or_ it's before you are revealed for what you truly are and are not allowed your lightsaber you need to defend yourself physically and this is where this place comes in”

“Understood sir”

And so that day was the first of many frustrating days until they could come up with a relatively crude but effective Force inhibitor that was injectable through a hypo-spray and then slowly but surely they lowered the dose until she could fight without automatically accessing the Force. She did have a habit of constantly going to where her lightsaber or phaser would be so that was a work in progress but eventually they broke that habit of her and she developed a unique ready stance where she stood completely still with her arms down but was ready to fight at a moments notice

“I think you're ready to join your classmates in their mandatory combat training”

“I think so too, I know for a fact that they're wondering why I'm not in said classes already”

“I think tomorrow is going to be very interesting since the self defense instructor isn't aware of your training and thus not aware of your unique stance”

“Agreed”

And so the next day she was in the self defense classes and everyone was surprised to see her

“Welcome to class finally Portland, the Admirals mentioned you would be here”

“Sorry for not being here sooner there were...issues regarding this class that needed to be resolved first”

“Very well, Portland, Henderson on the mat”

The two go to the mat and face each other and then bow

“Defense positions”

Henderson automatically went into a defense position with his hands up in front of him in fists but Ashland simply stands there in a relaxed position

“Cadet Portland, defense position”  
  
“I am professor I'm ready to fight when Henderson is”

“Your loss, go!”

As soon as Henderson goes for the first punch they learn that Ashland being in a relaxed position didn't mean that she wasn't ready to fight, she wasn't so fast as to let people know that something was off, but she _was_ faster than expected in the position she started in, and also somewhat competent in defending herself though there were obvious weaknesses that could be and occasionally were exploited, eventually Henderson got the three points thus ending the fight

“Not bad, your stance is very unassuming Cadet, if I hadn't seen it for myself just now, if I was from another planet I would think that you were unable to defend yourself without an obvious weapon and you simply taking the stance you do when there's an obvious hand to hand challenge”

“There are actually reasons behind my stance that are unfortunately currently classified, but eventually the reasons might be revealed, and on that day I hope you finally understand why my stance is what it is”

“I hope so too and since you stated that your reasons are classified I won't pry further, but I _will_ want to see you after class for a bit, see if we can't modify that stance slightly to be more effective yet still obvious that you can defend yourself even if the uniform says that you can automatically”

“Understood”

Ultimately the stance she took from the first day of class was the stance that became standard for her, any and all other positions just didn't work out (she got hurt a lot more often in the other positions that they tried despite both sides working on it their best to prevent said injury)

 


	6. Survival training part 1

Ashland had been warned beforehand that there was a survival training that was mandatory for her to attend and as such she made sure to be stocked on the Starfleet Force inhibitors which had undergone serious testing to get approved, the established excuse was environmental allergies and since she did have legitimate environmental allergies that was the best cover ever (mixing Force inhibitors with allergy medicine had been the reason why all the testing had been done on said Force inhibitors in the first place)

“Okay everyone, here's the scenario, your exploration team has been cut off from the ship for reasons of magnetic interference, that interference also makes teleporting _extremely_ dangerous and shuttle craft are also in danger and as such the interference needs to lessen in intensity before any sort of rescue is made. You don't know how long the interference will last and as such you need to survive until it ends or lessens, oh and did I forget to mention that you only have three field rations to spread throughout the group?, now then you _do_ have phasers but they too are affecting by the magnetic interference which means that they may work one minute and be completely useless the next so I would be judicious on use if I were you guys”

“Also you will be under observation while here, any serious injuries will mean being pulled out of this exercise and rotated to another training squad, cheating is grounds for expulsion as always, putting your fellow Cadets at risk deliberately will also not be tolerated at any given time”

“This is _not_ like at the Academy and the simulators Cadets, this is real life with real life consequences, this may be a controlled environment still but we need you to take what you've learned so far in the classroom seriously”

That night the Cadets got a harsh dose of reality because things got suddenly bitter cold when night hit, and only one person had any semblance of shelter, and it was a shoddy piece of shelter at that and the Cadet knew it

“Okay, time for fire”

One of Ashland's fellow Cadets aimed their phaser at the wood the group had gathered into a pile that was like the campfire's of old days and was about to fire when Ashland grabbed their hand

“NO! I know that we need fire but we should save the phasers for potential danger, besides you heard our instructors these phasers are unreliable at times”

“How are we to get fire then?”

“I have my way, but it's going to take a little time and a _lot_ of work”

“How much work?”

“You'll see, fortunately I have two methods actually because my first method may not actually work”

Fortunately the bow drill method worked and Ashland got a fire started pretty quickly

“Now all that's left is to build it up slowly”

“But...”

“Go too fast and we lose the flame”

“How do you know?”

“I learned _that_ lesson the hard ways once, and no I am not explaining further why I would have been in a similar survival situation to you guys”

“So...with us going slowly how long is this going to take?”

“Fortunately not very long, only a couple of minutes before we have a roaring fire going on that should keep everyone warm, but I also should mention we need to keep an eye on this thing to _keep_ it going”

“What for?”

“If someone isn't watching the fire it will eventually go out”

“So, every two hours or so we rotate?”

“Sounds good, that ways everyone will get at least _some_ sleep”

The next three days followed pretty much the same routine every day, they would get up, get some food for the day, make what improvements to their shelters that they could think of, or reinforced said shelters and simply did their best to survive. Finally though an instructor showed up in a shuttle craft

“Okay people situation update, the storm is still going on but it's now safe enough for shuttle craft to get through, transporters are still not advisable _but_ it's doable at need”

“What about our phasers?”

“More reliable than the past three days but I still wouldn't use them except at need if I were you”

“Understood sir”

Of course the lesson wasn't actually done yet, only half the group had been evacuated when an announcement was made that chilled everyone to the bone

“Sir, no more transports are allowed, we're being attacked by unknown enemies, our shields are up and...there's a group of people heading your way with unknown intentions”

“Understood, we're moving out, contact us once it's safe again”

Communications are cut and the instructor gives the “on me” signal which they follow, two days later and the training scenario was completely over, and they learned that the group separation had been planned from the start but the people selected to stay on the ground had been decided during the initial three days of the course

“This was simulated to show that you can never plan on escape routes or pickups to go smoothly all the time, generally it does but sometimes it doesn't”

“Now then, everyone needs to write a report as you would be required to do so on an actual mission, it's due in three days though generally it would be due in one to two days depending on injury, but with this being your first written report you'll have a little leniency regarding time limit”

“Understood sir”

Ashland would surprise her instructors in not only how fast they had received a written report regarding the survival exercise but also how concise it was, there were no unnecessary details but there was no lack of details either, it was actually the perfect balance between the need for information but at the same time not being personal regarding said information as well, unlike most of her fellow Cadets. When asked she said that there were classified reasons behind her report skills and the Admiralty confirmed that they weren't allowed to know how she already knew how to give a report, they also were unaware that she had written three reports, one for her instructors, one for the Admiralty and one for the Jedi Council if she ever returned home, or if she died before returning home was in the care of the Admiralty for the day that the Federation and the Republic met each other

“In any case your report is the only one that passed, we'll be discussing the reasons behind what actually makes a good report in the next class”

“Understood sir”

And so that's exactly what happened, the Cadets learned that only one student passed the written evaluation part of the exercise and then explained in further detail what a report did and did not need, though they did also mention that there were sometimes exceptions to putting in speculations but that they would learn those exceptions in another class

 


	7. Language lessons

Ashland was meditating when suddenly she stood up and faced the door to the holodeck which opened to an Admiral

“Yes Admiral?”

“We were wondering if you would be willing to learn at least one of the languages of the Federation”

“That's actually a good idea, I haven't said anything because I was unsure if you thought of the same possible issue but I was beginning to wonder if I should mention something of that nature myself”

“What happened?”

“A fellow Cadet, we were talking about something regarding an Engineering course when suddenly they slipped into their native language...Andorian I think, they apologized for doing so but it was still frustrating not knowing what was being said”

“What languages are you thinking of looking into?”

“I'm looking at four different languages, Romulan, Vulcan, Bajoran, and Cardassian but I don't know which would be good to start on”

“Why two allied languages and two enemy languages?”

“You never know sir, you never know”

“In that case make a decision and we'll start from there”

“Yes sir”

Ultimately Ashland would decide to start with Cardassian, she had briefly thought about Klingon but then realized that she _really_ wouldn't have liked to learn that gutteral language for personal reasons

“Okay have you made your decision?”

“Yes, I'm beginning with the Cardassian language”

“Okay then, let's get started”

Everyone including Ashland quickly learned that she had a knack for Federation languages because she mastered Cardassian in six months, when that was mastered she decided to go for Vulcan and had that language mastered in a year, Romulan was pretty similar to Vulcan and as such that only took her four months while Bajoran took her seven months

“So...do you want to learn any other languages?”

“No, knowing seven spoken languages is quite enough, I also have three different forms of sign language that I know as well”

“Geeze that's a lot of languages”

“Indeed it is”

“Wait, what are your three other known spoken languages?”

“Basic, Huttese, and Bocce”

“Um...”

“Basic is basically English, Huttese and Bocce are a bit more...complicated, but I can give you examples if you want, I'm surprised that you haven't asked me before now all things considered”

“True, but your debriefs were pretty thorough”

“And you don't necessarily need to know the languages I speak unless something comes up that requires you to ask”

“Exactly”

“Well I'd better give you those examples soon”

“Um, two quick questions what are Huttese and Bocce and where are they spoken?”

“Huttese and Bocce are both spoken languages, Huttese is the primarily language of a species called the Hutts, which I believe I've spoken to you about before, and it's spoken mostly in the Outer rim, as for Bocce it's a language used by people who trade goods, basically it's a trade language that allows for communication between various species. If a pilot knows Bocce but doesn't know another species' language at least there can be _some_ communication if the other person also knows some Bocce”

“You'll give us translations?”

“Yes I'll give you translations, it's probably a good idea because I occasionally slip into Huttese but always correct myself in my written reports”

“Thank you now then you have classes to attend”

“Understood”

And so that's what she does knowing that she may never know exactly when she might need her known languages but glad that she knew them in any case just in case they were ever needed

 


	8. Survival training part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during the language training chapter, while she's learning Cardassian to be more specific, and if you've read any of my other stories alien languages are always in asterisks

Ashland was three months into learning another language when she was told that there was to be a survival training exercise, she was admittedly confused because of the fact that as far as she was aware the training wasn't supposed to be for another few months if the schedule held true to form, but instead there was survival training once more and this time it was in harsher environments

“Okay everyone here's the scenario this time, your ship has crashed and you're waiting for rescue, unfortunately you're in the demilitarized zone that we have with the Cardassians right now and they're not necessarily happy to have Federation citizens in their midst, they're still actually pretty sore about the whole Maquis situation and as such even if you're Starfleet officers who have a legitimate reason to be stranded close to their part of the neutral zone there's a chance they won't take too kindly to your presence. You don't know when rescue will arrive and as such once again you need to keep yourselves safe and this time with the added danger of potential capture and torture”

The scenario started pretty quickly and what no one knew was that this was one of the situations where Cadets were allowed to put their speculations into their reports, _especially_ if they had even a basic understanding of what was being said by the Cardassians (a few had volunteered to help with this scenario knowing that there was always the possibility of rogues capturing Starfleet officers for any given reason)

“Well I guess we should set up camp and set a patrol as a precaution”

“Right, fire?”

“Not this time due to the danger”

“Oh and just how are we supposed to eat and keep warm then?”

“Field rations, edible fruits, and sleeping together for body heat”

“Well I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to survive”

“Exactly”

Ultimately the group was captured within two days and their captors spoke strictly in Cardassian, and Ashland was the only one who knew even a bit of that language, but the others were good at reading maps, and once free they would combine those skills to make a unified report but in the meantime all they knew was that they had to escape if possible and if not do their best to survive until rescue while gaining intel when possible

*Bajor...high security...two locations...bluff...wait for now*

“Guys, there's trouble”

“No kidding, anyone got plans for an escape?”

“Not yet, but we need to work fast”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, can't explain here though, too dangerous”

It would take them a week but finally the group escaped, but not empty handed, instead they had several PADDS that had maps and plans also in Cardassian, Ashland would work on translating it for the rest of the exercise which lasted another two weeks (they were constantly on the move but they managed to get some rest and Ashland was also able to do a little translating) but finally they were rescued and had a written and verbal report to give

“Now then I want written reports, but I also want a verbal report of anything you consider of immediate importance?”

Ashland steps forward and waits until she's acknowledged

“Sir I must know if Bajor or any other planet has been attacked since our crash?”

“Now that you mention it yes, DS9 managed to fend off an attack by an unknown group as did Tellerite”

“I see, I overheard bits of a conversation during our initial capture and they mentioned Bajor and two locations, but I don't know enough Cardassian to completely follow a conversation and as such am not a completely reliable witness”

“You did the best you could Cadet...now then I have one last piece of duty for you guys”

“What is it sir?”

“Stand down, exercise is over”

“Exercise...over...sir was this deliberate?”

“Yes, we recently decided to combine survival training with interrogation training and interrogation training includes being captured and possibly tortured”

“I...see, so there isn't any real danger right?”

“Correct, there were some Cardassians that actually volunteered for this training scenario because there are rogues out there that could potentially do what that particular scenario was indicating could happen but this time everything was scripted including when you guys escaped, if you had tried any sooner you would have been recaptured”

“Scripted, so they knew how much I understood of their language?”

“Yes”

“Okay then, back to the Academy it is then”

“Yes”

And so three days later and everyone involved in the survival exercise was back to the daily grind of the Academy learning to be Starfleet officers

 


	9. Commbadge protocol lessons

Ashland and the Admiralty was getting frustrated because she wasn't getting an aspect of using the commbadges that had been demonstrated several times to her already. She was going through a scenario at the moment with the Admiralty hoping that she would get it this time

“Lt. Ashland Portland to _Ferguson_ two to beam directly to sickbay”

“Understood, standing by”

“Energize”

“End simulation, wrong again Cadet”

(Sighs) “I know, and I think I finally figured out the problem, why do you use last names only?”

“Right...come up here and let's see if we can't explain this”

And so Ashland goes to where her observers were and sits down

“Okay, have you ever been in any tense situations or given reports?”

“Yes”

“Is your full name used?”

“Not generally, however it's not uncommon either, it's from a holdover from the Clone Wars”

“Right, well here's a scenario that I want you to honestly think about for a few minutes after I finish. You and your team are in the middle of a fight and you need evacuated, two members need medical attention and as someone with field medic training you've been the one treating them while the other officers protect you and the wounded, you contact your ship but you have to identify yourself _and_ your situation as briefly as possible, what would you do?”

Ashland does indeed think through the scenario for three whole minutes before she sucks in air and her eyes go wide

“That's why...that explains why it's last name only you need to be fast, precise and yet still let the ship know who's contacting them so that they know it's a friendly”

“Exactly”

“I think I'm ready to try again with this new information but...I might still have slip ups occasionally”

“Don't worry you're adjusting to a whole lot of things right now and besides the Academy is _designed_ to have you make mistakes in a safe or at least relatively safe environment where you can get as many do overs as you need to get things right, or as close to right as possible because out there on the ships, once your graduated you will have losses, situations will come up that have no Academy solutions because _we haven't been in that situation before_ , that's also why we encourage ingenuity when possible while at the same time making sure that the Cadets respect the rank structure as much as possible while not feeling intimidated in regards to making suggestions either when asked for or on their on initiative if that's called for”

They explained the new situation where she and the team were checking up on a planetary station that had gone silent and they had discovered that everyone at the station was dead, and they were dealing with what had killed everyone on the station and the fight wasn't going the greatest

“Portland to _Lancer_ five to beam up immediately!”

Five signatures are beamed up and then a basic report is given which forces the planet to be quarantined and that's where the simulation ends

“Good going Portland”

“That's only one time sir, it's going to take time for it to be habit I'm afraid”

“We know, but it's a start Cadet, it's a start”

Ultimately it would turn out that Ashland would adapt to the proper procedure faster than thought once she knew the reasoning behind said procedure which helped get her with the rest of her class much sooner

 


	10. Jedi sedatives part 1

Ashland couldn't sleep because of visions, she couldn't meditate because of the people across her room who were playing music while studying, and she had class in two hours, it all added up to trouble in class and she knew it, but she also knew that there was no help for it because she and the medical team had yet to figure out Jedi friendly sedatives, as it is they had _barely_ managed to find Jedi friendly sedation and she knew for a fact that it was because the Force had recognized it's need for the surgery she had needed after a training accident with weapons. She heads to class and it's obvious that she's exhausted from the start

“Cadet Portland, are you able to attend properly?”

“Yes ma'am”

“Cadet...”

“Sorry ma'am, but you know as well as I that I have to attend class no matter what for personal reasons and classified reasons as well”

(Sighs) “I understand, however I am ordering you to take the rest of the day off, I will inform the rest of your teachers that I gave you that order”

“Yes ma'am”

Ashland falls asleep in the middle of class for all of five minutes before she wakes up and shouts just one word (she was just aware enough that using the Force wasn't a good idea, but part of that awareness was in regards to the dream she had been having)

“NO!!!”

Her breath comes out in gasps and she calms herself down and realizes where she was as she does so and realizes that she would be ordered into medical after this

“Cadet Portland...”

“I know, I know, report medical”

“Exactly”

Ashland heads to medical and is seen by the one doctor who's fully cleared on her immediately

“Hello Cadet Portland, what's going on?”

“I don't care how many times I nearly die, we're getting a sedative and we're getting one now, I can't keep going like this”

“Understood”

“Okay then, let's get started, and doctor, I understand if we have to synthesize a whole new compound for me and potentially anyone who follows me”

Five days, three revivals, over a hundred near revivals and sixty failures they finally managed to create a Jedi safe sedative with a combination of already known sedatives, two newly created drugs, and one drug that was a known medicine for stomach ulcers but combined with one of the newly created drugs acted as a sedative

“We've got it, finally”

“Indeed, only took us almost a year to get this sedative created”  
  
“It is what it is doctor now that we have this sedative keep it on standby and once I am on missions again you let the doctor on board my ship about the sedative in case it's needed”

“Agreed, I'm surprised you've been here for so long”

“The Admiralty wants this sedative as much as I do, I can't afford to keep crashing in class, I miss too much when I just fall asleep, because there are times when I'm out for the entire class”

“I understand, now then you're cleared for classes again so get going”

“Will do”

And so she gets back to class and gets the classwork that she had missed over the last five days because the teachers _knew_ that she would catch up almost immediately with very little consequences if any, the rest of the class was their usual confused and annoyed self but Ashland was getting real good at ignoring her classmates knowing that until her circumstances were declassified they didn't have all the information necessary to make informed opinions about her constant meetings with the Admiralty and medical, that they were unaware that the meetings were both debriefs _and_ safety meetings, at least whenever she was at medical it was safety meetings. She was also relieved that there were now Jedi friendly sedatives because she _knew_ that there would be reasons besides the one that sent her to medical five days ago that would require a Jedi to be temporarily sedated

 


	11. Banned fighting style

Ashland was restless after an intense dream and knew that she had to work on something that would be unique to her and any Jedi in the future that joined Starfleet, she had told the Admiralty about wanting something unique to her and her people and so they agreed but warned her that if there was any significant danger they would put a stop to what she was working on and that's exactly what eventually happened

“I understand sir, but this fighting style might be needed in the future”

“I'm sorry Cadet but that's an order”

“Yes sir”

And so she stopped working on the unique fighting style, but then after an intense dream/vision Ashland knew she would have work on what would eventually become Sentinel's Defense in secret and against orders for everyone's sake and that's exactly what she did for the next three months before finally feeling it was as perfected as possible

“Well, now all that's left is to wait until it's needed and then use it against orders and then explain why I disobeyed said orders hoping that they'll understand”

When she eventually did use the banned fighting style Command did ultimately understand her reasons behind disobeying orders because they were long used to the fact that if a Jedi was compelled to follow the will of the Force than a Jedi would obey the will of the Force period the end of it, though they had also learned through Ashland that they would also do their best to follow orders if they were part of Starfleet

 


	12. Field ration introduction

Ashland had been adjusting well in the minds of the Admiralty but now they realized that they had to do something that they had never done before which was introduce field rations to a Cadet before their first ever survival exercise for safety reasons, she had mentioned that so far she hadn't had any trouble with replicated food (at least sensitivity wise, it had taken her three weeks _with_ supervision to get a handle on how to actually use the replicators for both food and other items that needed replicated such as clothes) but the field rations weren't necessarily replicated all the time and as such special precautions were needed since they _knew_ she had yet to have any of their food

“You wished to see me sir?”

“Yes Cadet, there's something we need to do something that normally isn't done because of your unique circumstances”

“What's that sir?”

“We're introducing you to Starfleet field rations for an upcoming survival training exercise, you are not to reveal that one is coming up Cadet, you've only ever had replicated food so far and field rations aren't necessarily replicated all the time”

“Safety”

“Exactly, how are the Force inhibitors coming along by the way?”

“We've _finally_ gotten that mixture down for my environmental allergies”

“Good, you're taking that inhibitor during training, we'll give you separate training without inhibitors at some point but until you're revealed...”

“I know sir, I know”

Ultimately the next week revealed that while Ashland didn't particularly _like_ some of the rations she wasn't allergic to any of them which was a good thing in everyone's mind

“Well, at least you won't starve or force an emergency beam out”

“True enough, true enough”

“Now then as already stated you are under orders to keep the upcoming survival training a secret, but it should be coming up soon now that you've been tested on the field rations”

“Yes sir”

“Dismissed”

And so Ashland heads to her next class now knowing that at least the field rations were safe, other food might not be and that would definitely be tested later she knew but for now it was good in her mind to know that if anything happened on a mission she would have something to eat in the rations

 


	13. Jedi sedatives part 2

Ashland and the rest of the Admiralty were all a little tired because Ashland had been debriefing them for several hours now without a break

“Okay, let's take a small break everyone, we've been going at it for hours now, and we've been doing that for three months now, I think it's time we reduce these meetings, at least in time length”

“Fine by me, there's still much I have to tell you guys but we've gotten through most of the big things you need to know about my people and where I come from”

Food and tea was ordered and initially things didn't seem off but about ten minutes after Ashland had finished her tea she was unconscious

“Cadet time to continue...Cadet...Cadet Portland you're not finished yet for the day...Cadet!...Satie to Starfleet Medical, medical emergency on Academy, conference room 3”

Sixteen hours later three Admirals were by Ashland's side waiting for her to wake up having already been told by the doctor's that they had detected nothing physically wrong and yet she was completely and totally asleep and nothing they did would wake her up, but finally she started stirring which prompted one of the Admirals to get the doctor who arrived just in time to see her fully wake up, or at least as awake as one would be after being unconscious for sixteen hours for no reason

“What happened?”

“Easy Cadet, you suddenly went unconscious while with the Admirals and have been in Medical ever since”

“How long?”

“It's been sixteen hours since you arrived”

“Say what?!”

“It's the truth, now then is there anything you can think of that might have caused you to lose consciousness?

“Not that I can think of, the last thing I remember was...what exactly was it we were drinking?”

“Chamomile tea”

“Huh...guess we've found out something I am _never_ allowed to drink again if at all possible”

“Agreed, we're going to have to runs tests now to see just _why_ you were unconscious for so long but it definitely looks like chamomile is a tad dangerous for you in regards to staying awake at need”

“Agreed”

Ultimately it would take another two substances to find out about the toxicity of chamomile and the other two substances but for the moment they had found out that Ashland would always be knocked out for sixteen hours whenever she had chamomile tea due to the fact that it was an extremely effective sedative on her. The rest of her first year was spent debriefing and of course the first survival exercise but finally the second year had come around and she was making friends slowly but surely and one day she decided to have a salad with almonds as something to try. She awoke in Medical six hours later with two concerned friends and a doctor

“So...what happened this time?”

“Almonds most likely, it could have been something else in the salad I had but my bet is the almonds”

“We'll test that out then another time, for now we're discharging you and you get a pass tomorrow with class just in case the effects are slightly different from chamomile”

“Understood”

It turned out that Almonds were like chamomile in the fact that once it was out of her system and she was awake she was awake with no aftereffects, the Almonds had also been confirmed a week later as the sedative just slightly shorter acting. A year later Poppy's would be the last of the substances to be discovered to act like a sedative during a medical course she decided to take for first aid purposes since she wasn't quite sure about being a field medic but also knowing that being knowledgeable about first aid was a good idea. Once that was settled more tests were done to figure out how combining the substances affected her and that's also when they figured out that each of the substances were slightly toxic to her in combination and also alone, they also found out about the natural self defense of her body if she was exposed to all three substances at one time

“Okay, we know what to do now in regards to you and you also know the rules for your own safety”

“Agreed”

They were at that time unaware of a new rule to be established regarding after nightmares or Force visions, that lesson would have to be learned the hard way after a training exercise

 


	14. Rebreather explanation

Ashland was waiting by the river having a day off like all the other Cadets, but she had something important to do that other Cadets didn't and that was continue a debrief to the Admiralty, one that was _important_ , otherwise she too would obey the orders she had explicitly been given that she wasn't to discuss the Republic with them at all today, finally she saw some of them and could instantly tell that they weren't happy about her summons

“Okay Cadet, why are you breaking the rule?”

“Because there's something you desperately need to know, something that might, just might make certain things easier in the future regarding assigning missions”

“What could we _possibly_ need to know before debriefing resumes tomorrow?”

“The fact that the training that's also assigned tomorrow is affected by what I reveal today”

“Water training, not just making sure that you can swim at need but how long you can handle being underwater with and without equipment”

“Exactly”

“Okay, what do you need to show us?”

“The gear you guys use provides air for about an hour right?”

“Yes, it does”

Ashland holds up the rebreather to show them

“This right here provides up to four hours worth of air, it used to be two but it got upgraded shortly before my mission here, as such who knows how good it will be if I ever return home but for now four hours is a good thing”

Ashland wouldn't know that she would be going home in a relatively short time and that the technology hadn't improved in that time so it would still be four hours, but at the moment she was thinking about what she was doing more than thinking about home because she had to, otherwise she knew she could get into mental and emotional trouble

“Four hours?”

“Yep, I'm about to show you, if I'm not back in the four hours I state then something has gone wrong and a search needs done for my remains most likely”

“Understood”

Ashland heads to the edge of the water and once she puts the rebreather in dives right into the river. Three hours and fifty minutes later Ashland popped right back up where she left and as soon as she was out of the water and the rebreather was out of her mouth she asked just one question

“Time?”

“Three hours fifty minutes”

“Yeah, sounds about right, anyways as you can see this could give us huge advantages in search and rescue and other missions”

“True, what about filters?”

“Doesn't really need one so I can use it with no problems on any mission”

“Okay that's all well and good, but still we're going to test you on this device routinely until we're confident in it ourselves”

“Understood sir...um what does this mean for me anyways?”

“You're still getting trained on our equipment for reasons that I'm sure you're aware of, but if we have a mission that might exceed our equipment we'll call in and give you special permission to use your equipment...you called it a rebreather right?” (receives a nod) “We'll let you use that instead with the understanding that you keep to three hours initially, no more than three and a half hours until your true self is fully revealed, we'll give you a cover story for the rebreather if needed or you can try and figure one out but the truth is not to be revealed until you have to reveal yourself at need”

“Understood sir”

The next day started a full week of water training because while it was initially supposed to only last a day or two equipment issues extended the training for safety reasons but finally Ashland was qualified on Starfleet water equipment and while she wasn't happy about the hour limit of the Starfleet equipment she also understood that the limit was because of the fact that they never need to be underwater for longer than the hour the equipment lasted and if they did they were already at a base and could switch people out at need

“Well, at least we know you can use our equipment safely”

“Indeed, I'll be keeping the rebreather though just in case”

“Understood, once you head off to your assignment both your lightsaber and rebreather will remain hidden until you are revealed in full”

“Yes sir”

And with that Ashland starts figuring out where to put her rebreather with the rest of the equipment that was to remain hidden until further notice since she had also been informed that she would be getting a roommate soon (she was bunking solo initially for safety reasons)

 


	15. weapons rules laid down

Ashland was simply meditating in a training room in a simulation that reminded her of the Jedi temple when she not only heard the door open but sensed two of the Admiralty enter and thus opened her eyes, stood up and faced them

“You need me sirs?”

“Portland, we need to discuss something regarding your unique weapon”

“What about sir?”

“We need to establish some rules and if there are ever any other Jedi like you have stated might happen we also need to establish Jedi only training areas on campus and figure out a way to keep unaware students safe if the training is outside”

“I understand, are we going to make the rules together or are you going to make all the rules yourselves?”

“We're going to make the rules together, but the first and most important rule is made purely by us”

“What is the rule?”

“Lightsabers are to stay on your persons at all times no exceptions”

“I can live with that, though I am going to have to argue about the no exceptions rule”

“Oh?”

“Yes, I say that if something happens to us, or we for some reason hand our lightsaber over to another officer then we don't have our ligthsaber on us”

“That...makes sense actually, anything else you can think of?”

“Yes, unless we're training or there is a credible threat to safety the lightsabers aren't to be out, they might be visible on our belts but not activated”

“Agreed, also all training is to be held in simulators and designated training areas once we have those established”

“Understood...sir I would like to request a rule for us”

“Oh?”

“Jedi do our best not to kill but that's not always avoidable, especially if we're ever up against any Sith, as such I request that all phasers issued to Jedi are locked on stun setting, if we're going to kill someone we'll kill them with our lightsaber”

“Very well, any other rules you can think of?”

Ashland actually gives it some thought and then shakes her head and speaks up

“Besides Starfleet rules and regulations none that I can think of right now”

“Very well, if you think of anything else let us know”

“Will do sir”

Ultimately the rules established that day would be the rules that Ashland would pass down when reunited and remain the same for a very, very long time

 


	16. Jedi archives

Ashland was doing her normal debrief when suddenly a topic was brought up that Ashland had known would be discussed sooner or later, but she hadn't expected it to be that soon

“Portland, we have a feeling that you're holding things back from us regarding your people, could you expand on what you've been saying?”

“No, I'm sorry but only the Jedi Council, if we ever make contact with them can expand further on what I have already explained to you guys, you have to understand that what you're asking for is in the Jedi archives and only the Council has access to that”

“But Portland”

“No”

“Cadet...”

Ashland and the Admiral kept arguing with the Admiral saying that he was willing to make it an order and Portland saying that what they had on the Jedi was all they were going to get unless and until they made contact with her home galaxy, finally though the Admiral had a suggestion that Ashland was willing to follow because not only would it end the argument but it would also allow the Admiralty to get a taste of just how powerful a Jedi could potentially be

“Prove to us that we need limited knowledge and I'll back off, show us how strong you _really_ are”

“You want a taste of my power...you got it”

Suddenly the Admiral was floating in the air with Ashland's hand also raised up, and for a few brief moments the rest of the Admiralty was ready to declare Jedi telekenetic, however Ashland then flashed her abilities through the Force to the rest of the Admirals to let them get an idea of what was actually going on and they realized that what was happening was on a whole different level

“I see...I will defer to you from now on regarding Jedi secrets and abilities”

A few days later summer started and Ashland continued the debrief when one day the roof of the meeting room started to collapse and everyone would have been killed if not for Portland using the Force to keep the roof from completely collapsing on them, allowing for their escape. When asked how they avoided major injuries (all of them had cuts and scratches from what Portland couldn't catch with the Force) they just said that they had gotten lucky

“Okay, you are definitely in charge of who knows what, and we'll petition the Jedi Council for access to the Jedi archives and let them decide how much information that they want to share with us from said archive, however there is one thing that we're definitely going to request only for a better understanding of any other Jedi and that's not only meditation rooms but also we _need_ to know a little bit more about your lightsaber training than what you've already given us, just so that we know _exactly_ how dangerous it is to disobey any Jedi locked programs while in session”

“I'll give you that one, but you're the ones who will have to explain your need because quite frankly I wouldn't know how to put that into words though most likely any meditation program isn't going to be locked”

“Understood, hopefully you'll still be around, but if not we have other ways of proving who we were and are to you”

“Exactly”

“But still...I think it might be a good idea to have more than just a message to them that's regularly updated, unfortunately as the only Jedi here you're the only one who would know best what to pick because we have no ideas”

Ashland thinks about everything she had discovered in regards to technology during her currently brief stay and then just sighs

“I know _exactly_ what you need, but it's going to come in two parts, the first part I'm going to give you guys today, the second part is going to be willed to you guys in the event of my death and eventual communication with the Republic, however to get the first part you're going to have to come with me due to all the secrecy that's needed”

“Very well, are you sure that what you're doing isn't going to severely damage any equipment you may need should you reveal your true identity?”

“Don't worry I have everything covered in that regards”

“Oh?”

(Scoffs) “Come on think about it, going into an unknown situation, no backup, potentially little to no access to technology I need, the _only_ person who can actually use things from the Republic because of technological differences, what made you think I would be sent here completely unprepared?”

“That's...actually a pretty good point”

“Come on, time to get my secret secondary weapon to help you guys should I not be around to help explain the Federation and Starfleet”

They head to Portland's room and when she takes out her lightsaber that's when she's stopped with a hand on her wrist

“Cadet, are you absolutely certain about this?...according to you this weapon is your life”

“Don't worry, you're not getting my complete lightsaber until I die and will it to you guys should I never return home, no this is what has been prepared for _months_ now”

And so with the Force Portland takes apart her weapon and they see two crystals inside it, Portland then gives both the battery pack that she had on her and one of the crystals to the nearest Admiral

“Keep these hidden, keep them safe, just like my reports to the Jedi Council these items are too dangerous in the wrong hands and you know it”

“What...exactly are these items?”

“One kyber crystal and a battery pack for my lightsaber, I have more batteries to handle only one crystal now being in my lightsaber. I think this is why I originally made a two crystal blade, because while it didn't feel completely wrong, it also felt like the final weapon wasn't meant to have two crystals permanently, that the second crystal was only going with me on a trip some where's until it reached it's final destination, and that destination is here with you guys”

“We'll keep these safe, we promise”

“Good, you take care of that while I have a break and eat something”

“No, you're going to have the rest of the day off, you've been going non-stop since late last night in all honesty after that sleeping incident, you need a break, plus we also need a break and actually absorb what you've been telling us so the rest of today and probably all of tomorrow are yours Cadet”

“Understood sir, though my fellow Cadets are probably going to think it weird that I have time with them tomorrow, at least more time than normal”

“Once you're fully debriefed and deemed safe you'll be in a normal dorm room and with them the entire class periods so might as well start letting them get used to it now instead of once you're fully debriefed”

“I understand sir”

And so the next day Portland acted like a regular cadet...until the Cadets were outdoors, when she started sneezing a bunch and had slight wheezing she was sent to medical where it was discovered she had allergies to the pollen and as such was immediately put onto an antihistamine regimen to handle outdoor activities

 


	17. Deadly training

Ashland was a Sophomore and was part of a training exercise that combined Sophomore and Junior cadets for a mass disaster exercise when things went _wrong_ , the shuttles everyone was part of failed and all of them crashed. Ashland herself was knocked out for about five minutes and when she came to she found out that a mayday had already been sent and that everyone was recovering the remains that they could find and do what treatment they could do to those that they knew were alive, and when she tried to move she realized that she was amongst the injured but she also knew she could and would ignore her injuries to help in the recovery process

“Portland can you help clear up the debris?”

Ashland tries to reply but quickly realizes she has a broken jaw and thus just nods. Two hours later and a group of Seniors arrived and took charge of the group with their own teachers waiting in the background in case the seniors struggled with their assignment

“Cadet Portland, take the least damaged area and start cleaning up the area there”

Ashland nods her understanding of her orders but is quickly stopped

“Hold it right there Cadet, I need to actually hear you acknowledge your orders”

Ashland instead goes to sign

*Broken jaw, can't talk *

“Understood Cadet, we weren't informed of that injury”

Slowly the debris field is arranged and the recovery process continues and the Seniors use their advanced training to help save even more lives than what the Sophomores and Juniors (minus Portland) could save and then three hours after the Seniors arrived the rescue team from the Academy arrived and took over for everyone sending everyone originally part of the exercise back to the Academy for debriefing and medical attention and that's when Ashland learned of all her injuries, and when asked if she lost consciousness she admitted that she had

“Add no concussion to your luck list”

“I am...I am, how long am I on soft food and minimum talking?”

“Soft food for another three days, talking another day and a half if possible”

“Understood sir”

The next day when she was debriefed she learned just how many had been injured or killed with her included in the total

“Cadet Portland, you need to know the injury and casualty list”

“How bad is it?”

“Fifty Cadets were killed while including you another seventy were injured to varying degree”

“So many...I should have done something”

“No Cadet you're under orders to keep yourself a secret, there would have been nothing you could have done in either case from what we know so far about what had happened during the exercise”

“But I...”

“No Cadet, orders are orders”

“Yes sir”

(Sighs) “I think in the meantime though if you have trouble after a meditation session you should see the counselor you're assigned to”

“I understand and will obey your orders”

And so with time and help Ashland would heal physically and emotionally from the training exercise

 


	18. Lesson in blindness learned

“Personal log Stardate...whatever it is. I have now been blind for a total of thirteen hours and will remain blind for at least another week before Starfleet will perform the necessary surgery that will allow me to regain my eyesight. I don't blame my instructors since no one could have predicted what happened in training today but that doesn't mean I'm exactly happy about everything because I'm _not_. I am still not allowed to use the Force even though I am in a potentially extremely perilous situation because of my temporary disability, but I also understand why the surgery has been delayed for so long and as such am not going to complain too much about my circumstances, anyways in order for anyone who might hear this in the future understand how I became blind in the first place I must first explain what we were training for today”

_Fifteen hours earlier_

“Okay class today we're going to focus on what to do if someone takes over your station or ship, it doesn't happen often but unfortunately there _have_ been times when a terrorist group or rogue member or something like that has taken over a station or vessel, as such we need you to learn how to move about without being detected by the enemy if at all possible”

And so for two hours things were going well, if they were sprayed with water it meant that they were temporarily blinded and if they were hit in other areas that part of their body was temporarily out of commission as well and then things went wrong during the exercise through no fault of anyone, the group was working on the hand-to-hand portion of the exercise when suddenly Portland jumped in front of her opponent knocking them out of the way of falling objects that no one even knew could fall from a previous exercise. It knocked Portland out completely and when she woke up she discovered that she was temporarily blind and that other surgery had been needed as well and as such Medical was giving her body time to heal before fixing the problems with her eyes

“I see, how long was I unconscious for anyways?”

“Five hours, the surgery didn't take nearly as long as we thought it would take and it wasn't as major as we thought it would be either and as such you'll be discharged in about two hours, but you'll be on light duty until your eyes are fixed and you're not allowed classes tomorrow to give your body a little more time to heal”

“Understood doctor”

“We have two things for you that should help you nagivate, one is a cane that's been in use for centuries for the blind but the other thing that we have for you is a device that tells you where you are at any given time”

“Thanks that should be a big help even if it's only temporary”

And so with that she went back to her quarters for rest and to figure out her next move in regards to adapting to her new home

_Present_

“With there being nothing else for me to do all that's left is for me to adapt to this equipment since I am on Force inhibitors which prevents me from doing what's natural to me, I can only hope that eventually I can reveal myself and thus not need any equipment if blind, though it might be a good idea to learn how to navigate and fight blind in case something should happen in the future that prevents me from accessing the Force, I'll bring it up with the admiralty later”

Ultimately it turned out that Portland was even _more_ accident prone without the Force when blind than when she could see and not have access to the Force, but she also did get the admiralty to see her point in learning to fight completely blind and so they started the process, but this incident also taught everyone a huge lesson about how to handle a Jedi who couldn't access the Force and was blind for whatever reason, they all had to be careful about moving about and also relearning skills that they would be able to easily handle blind while having access to the Force then otherwise

“This is going to take time Portland, are you sure about doing this?”

“I have no other choice, if something should ever blind me again and I have no access to the Force...or worse fellow Jedi join and they are suddenly blind and can't use the Force because we can't reveal ourselves for whatever reason, then we could...well it wouldn't be good”

“I see, then I guess we have no other choice do we?”

“No sir, but Jedi are highly adaptive as you've no doubt started to notice, this shouldn't take nearly as long as feared”

“First though we need you to regain your sight so that you can watch video of you fighting blind”

“How about this, I start learning actually blind and then watch the videos from that and then go from there”

“That will work also”

And so that's what they do, it would take time and effort but eventually Portland was able to fight without the Force completely blind, which would help her in the future when she was thought dead but was actually a prisoner, blind and had a Force collar on her and yet she had to fight her captures to get free once more

 


	19. Field medic training

Portland was still fairly new to the Academy and the Federation but she had already realized that she could become something she already was in the Republic. This was because the debriefing was truly starting to wind down and she was training more and more with her fellow cadets and had already been given basic first aid courses

“Admiral...I was wondering something”

“What is it Cadet Portland?”

“Can I get further training to become a field medic?”

“I didn't realize that you were interested in such a thing”

“Back where I come from all Jedi are actually field medics...it's a holdover from a bad period of time for us, but because I am not used to Federation drugs or equipment I need the training to become certified as a field medic once more”

“Then that's what we'll start doing in between your other debriefing periods and your other classes that we feel you need”

And so that very day Ashland began field medic training and would be certified by the time she was a Sophomore in the Academy due to already being a field medic in the Republic

“You know, you're one of the fastest learning cadets that we've had that have gone through the field medic program”

“I have my reasons, unfortunately...”

“We know one of the Admirals came and explained that a lot of things about you are classified as need to know and we don't need to know why you already basically have field medic training and just need to touch up on some of the skills and learn the equipment and drugs that we use”

“I'm just glad that this program is available for when I go out and train in the real world”

“I bet you are”

And so she would go on to be an excellent field medic and that training would save lives on occasion too, plus she would get the mandatory update training when needed or when possible depending on various factors

 


	20. graduation day

Ashland was nervous yet excited, finally four and a half years after coming to the Federation and more specifically the Academy she was graduating from along with a few other students and so one by one each cadet was called and given their assignment

“Cadet Ashland Portland, the _USS Texas_ ”  


And so she accepts her certificate of graduation and her assignment and eventually all of the cadets had been called and given said assignment and then she was called over by one of the Admirals

“You're coming to your assignment with me Ensign, our first stop will to a station where the _Texas_ will pick both of us up, as such we're first going to the station on another ship”  


“Understood sir, this kind of relay common?”  


“It all depends Ensign, it all depends, sometimes a person is able to go directly to their new assignment and other times this kind of situation happens where one or more ships transfer you to your final assignment, part of the problem is where the  _Texas_ currently is which is why we're doing the relay method”  


“Why are you heading to the  _Texas_ sir?”  


“Hm...I think I will wait for you to find out about that when we get there”

“Yes sir...um what exactly is the assignment that is keeping the _Texas_ from coming directly here anyways?”

“Sorry, but that's something you don't need to know yet from what I understand of the mission, if that changes you'll know immediately”

“Understood”  


Three days later and the two were aboard the  _Texas_ and that's when Ashland found out that the Admiral was there for an inquiry into an incident during their mission which she didn't know the resolution of primarily because she was being shown around the ship and told what all her duties were exactly

“Depending on the situation you may be called to serve in sickbay due to your training as a field medic”  


“I understand”

And so soon enough the Admiral was on their way and Ashland settled into ship routine when unexpectedly she would be the one in charge of the crew not long afterwords due to winding up in the Republic once more

 


	21. Federation weapons vs lightsaber

Ashland knew as soon as the meeting started that something major was going to happen

“Cadet Portland, we need to talk more about your lightsaber”  


“What's wrong Admiral?”  


(Sighs) “I'm afraid that just establishing rules isn't going to work, once you are revealed to be what you are you might have to use your weapon against Federation enemies, either due to rogues or simply because they are our enemies, as such we need to know what your weapon can and cannot block in regards to weapons”  


“I guess that makes sense, are we starting off with Starfleet weapons?”  


“Yes because you're around Starfleet officers the most”  


“Understood, guess we'd better get started”  


And so the training began and it was soon discovered that the lightsaber actually deflected phaser blasts from all phaser weapons except for Ferengi phasers for whatever reason, disruptors from known species were hit and miss in regards to blocking the shot, it all depended on the angle of the lightsaber and the angle the shot was coming from, couldn't block a hit from a Varon-T disruptor and was actually disabled temporarily, a Ferengi whip could wrap itself around the lightsaber and as such that fight would get complicated  _real_ fast and depend on the skill of both fighters, all melee weapons melted and everything else that the Federation went up against were either ship based weapons or weapons that nothing could go up against in regards to lethality

“Well I guess we now have a general idea of what you can and can't do with that weapon when going up against someone with one of those weapons you might face that are humanoid sized”  


“Agreed, there are a few weapons I would never want to go up against but at least once what I am is revealed I know who I can use my lightsaber against and who I can't”  


“Indeed, though for the one weapon that will make things real interesting real fast”  


“Such is life in my mind”

“Well, I guess we're adding that into your practice sessions which are private, and we expect you to keep said practice up when possible once you're out on assignment”  


“Don't worry I will”  


And so that day Ashland added specialized training with her lightsaber in order to handle the weapons she could use her lightsaber against

 


End file.
